


A Fork in the Road

by igrockspock



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Confessions, F/F, Friends to Enemies, Friendship, Kissing, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21936112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/pseuds/igrockspock
Summary: When Adora discovers Catra in the woods and doesn’t sound the alarm, Catra must choose whether to rekindle an old connection or capture Adora for the Horde.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 87
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 4





	A Fork in the Road

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scintilla10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scintilla10/gifts).



> Scintilla, I loved your chocolate box prompts, especially your questions about the fraught history between Catra and Adora. Sadly, real life intervened, and I was not able to finish the assignment. Better late than never! I hope you enjoy this little story even though it was a long time coming.

Catra’s feet scraped against fallen leaves and shattered twigs. Her throat was dry, her skin coated with a fine film of dust. The princesses’ tracks had dried up hours ago, and now her attention was fixed on one thing: a box in the distance.

As boxes went, it was nothing special. Just four regular old cardboard walls, stamped with some faded lettering. Part of the litter left behind by the failed Horde invasion, no doubt. And Catra was going to get inside it.

Shadow Weaver wouldn’t approve, of course. Catra’s obsession with boxes was not befitting of a Horde soldier. Or something. The exact criticism escaped Catra now; over the years they’d piled up until she couldn’t remember them all. But Shadow Weaver wasn’t here now, and Catra was free to do as she pleased. Including climbing into a box.

It wasn’t really big enough, she thought as she settled inside. She shifted her hips around and experimented with different configurations: one leg out, tail out and legs in, one arm dangling over the side. Finally she’d wiggled around enough to make the box accommodate her whole body, and she sighed contentedly. Yes, she could definitely make this work for the night.

***

Voices startled Catra out of her sleep. The moon was high overhead now. It had to be the middle of the night.

“Does that box have a tail?” one of the voices asked. Catra jerked her tail back hurriedly, but it was no use - the top stuck out over the rim of the box.

“And ears?” another voice said, and Catra flattened them hastily against her head.

“Nope, don’t think so.” That voice was familiar. Adora. “You must be seeing things. We’ve been out for ages. It’s been a long day.”

Yup. Definitely Adora. Still the shittiest liar Catra had ever known. She knew what she ought to do: spring out of the box when she still had surprise on her side and try to take one of Adora’s new friends hostage. When she’d come out here, she’d planned to bring a princess or two back to the Horde for interrogation, the better to cement her new position in Hordak’s favor. Three against one was long odds though, especially with She-Ra in the mix. The practical side of Catra knew better than to get out of the box. Or she wasn’t up for fighting her ex-best-friend again so soon. Whatever. Her shoulders twitched, but she didn’t move.

After a round of heated whispers, Adora heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Look, I’ll go check, okay?” she said, and Catra listened to her footsteps crunch over the broken twigs littering the ground.

Adora’s expression didn’t change when she leaned over the box and saw Catra inside. Not that her presence was really a surprise -- there weren’t a lot of reasons for a giant box to sprout a tail and a pair of ears. Catra tensed; Adora’s lack of reaction was probably a ruse to get her friends closer.

But Adora only reached down and plucked a fallen leaf out of Catra’s hair, her fingers lingering just a few seconds longer than strictly necessary. “Just a leaf, guys!” she called, holding it up. Then she yawned and stretched theatrically. “Come on, let’s go back to the campsite. I’m exhausted!”

Catra winced. How could anyone fall for _that_ routine? But then, Adora’s new friends were probably just like everyone else: they thought the sun shined out of She-Ra’s ass. _Of course_ they believed whatever she said. She listened as their footsteps grew more and more distant until they faded entirely.

Now was the time to leave, or better yet, tail the super friends back to their camp. Instead Catra sprang into the trees to wait.

***

Adora appeared a couple hours later, long enough for her new best friends to have fallen asleep, Catra supposed. 

“Catra? Are you still here?” Adora was whispering, but it was enough to reach Catra’s sensitive ears. That was how they used to talk at night - Adora speaking in a voice so low that no one else could hear it. It had made Catra feel so special, once upon a time.

She jerked herself back to the present. If she was going to attack, now was the time. Under the cover of darkness, she just might have a shot. Her muscles tensed.

Adora settled into the hollow of a broken trunk. If she spotted Catra among the tangle of jagged branches, she didn’t show it. Now she was unpacking her backpack, laying out a blanket and a pile of food.

“Too bad I’ll just have to eat all this myself!” she exclaimed. “Mmm-mmm these cupcakes are so good!”

Catra squinted at the object in Adora’s hand. It was round with a colored blob on top. What _was_ that? Her stomach rumbled at the smell, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten for hours. She launched herself out of the tree, landing several feet from the picnic blanket. So much for the element of surprise. It wasn’t like she could beat She-Ra on an empty stomach anyway. Food first, she thought. _Then_ battle to the death. 

Her feet landed silently on the forest floor. Overall, she’d give herself an A+ on the whole stealth routine, but Adora only rolled her eyes and said, “I know you’re out there.”

Catra harumphed. “Lucky guess.” For dignity’s sake, she would’ve liked to prowl around the campsite more, maybe force Adora to take a couple potshots in the wrong direction, but she really was hungry. Maybe that was why she swallowed the whole cupcake in two bites, and then another one, and another one after that. Normally, she was more interested in tuna fish and rare steaks, but she’d never tasted anything that crumbly and decadent and --

She stopped herself before she inhaled yet another one. That seemed like a victory for Adora, and dammit, Adora didn’t get to beat her without a fight.

Adora smiled. It was really more of a smirk, just one dimple showing, and once upon a time, it had made Catra weak in the knees. Keyword _had._ It didn’t anymore. 

“Do you know at Brightmoon, we can have all the cupcakes we want?” she asked, still smiling conspiratorially.

So _that_ was her angle. The whole defection speech. Catra sighed. “Join the resistance, we have cupcakes? _That’s_ your sales pitch?”

Adora shrugged. “It worked on me.”

“You betrayed the Horde for sugar?” Catra blinked. That was shockingly self-interested. 

“Well, and doing the right thing.” Adora cleared her throat. “But yeah, the cupcake came first.” 

Catra flopped back against the tree, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from Adora’s body. “I always thought you were so perfect,” she said, still pondering the great cupcake revelation. Being abandoned still stung, but maybe just a little less. You couldn’t really fault someone for finding someplace more comfortable and going with it.

Adora’s body stiffened. “I’m not perfect,” she said with surprising force. “I never was. I was just so scared to fail.”

“And be like me?”

“No, of course not.” 

Catra rolled her eyes. She didn’t know what she’d thought was going to happen when she came out here, but a real conversation shouldn’t have been on the list.

“Well, okay, maybe a little.”

Catra’s head snapped up. She should’ve been mad, but instead she was relieved. At least Adora was being honest. For once.

“That’s how the Horde works. You make an example out of the first kid who struggles so the others are terrified of making a mistake. It worked on me. It really, really worked.” Adora cleared her throat. “I’m sorry you were the example. You shouldn’t have been. You’re so smart and strong and...weirdly flexible.”

Catra gagged. “So is this the new sales pitch? You act all sincere and then you promise at Brightmoon everyone is _so nice_ and you can make all the mistakes you want and everyone still loves you?” _Please._ That kind of world didn’t exist.

“Fine.” Adora stood up, dusting imaginary dirt off her trousers. “I don’t know why I thought I could have this conversation with you anyway.”

Catra locked her jaw and watched silently as Adora packed up the remnants of the picnic. Watching her ex-best friend walk away through the woods would be easy. The easiest thing Catra had done all week, as a matter of fact.

But should she pass up an opportunity for intel? Adora’s guard was down; she might slip up.

“Wait,” she choked out. “Stay.”

Of course, by now, Adora had moved onto her stubborn and hurt routine. Catra had seen it a hundred times before.

“So you can make fun of everything I have to say? No thanks.”

 _Fine, go back to the best friend squad, or whatever you call yourselves_ , Catra meant to say. Instead she said, “No. I just...don’t want to watch you go.”

Adora didn’t want to leave either, she realized with a start. If she had, she’d already be gone. Instead, she was making a show of indecision, eyes flicking back and forth between the forest and the tree trunk where she’d been sitting. Finally, with a little huff, she flung herself down, muttering, “I don’t know why I bother.”

“Cut me a little slack, alright? We’ve been mortal enemies for, like, six months and now you’re back here being all sincere.” Saying things that Catra had longed to hear since, oh, forever -- which just unfair, because _of course_ Adora would admit the truth only _after_ she bailed on the Horde. And Catra.

“I just…” Adora’s voice was small. “Miss you. Every night.”

She could mean a hundred things. She missed telling each other bedtime stories or borrowing Catra’s toothpaste or stealing her extra pillows. But then she looked at Catra, eyes dark, lips parted…

And _oh_. _That_ was what she meant.

Very slowly, she stretched a hand toward Catra’s ears. Her first touch was feather light, but her fingers dug into exactly the right spot, and Catra couldn’t help but push her head up into Adora’s waiting hand. _Nobody_ else could do this to her. She couldn’t even summon a shred of embarrassment about needing someone else so badly. How could she, when this felt so good?

“Do your friends know you’re here?” Catra managed. Adora was close now, so close her breasts brushed across Catra’s arms when she reached for her ears.

“Nope. I lied to them.” Adora licked her lips. “For you.”

Her fingers slid down from Catra’s ears to cup the side of her face, and Catra tilted her head up obediently. She could pretend to be docile for a few seconds longer.

Adora’s lips brushed against hers, soft and chaste, but no, Catra wasn’t risking her whole career for a schoolgirl kiss. She pushed back, scraping her teeth against Adora’s lip, and in one smooth motion, she rose and landed with her knee between Adora’s legs. 

Adora rose to meet her, pressing their chests together, grinding hard against Catra’s knee. Catra bit back a moan. Whatever they’d done before, it hadn’t been like _this_ , fast and hot and needy. She traced a pointed fingernail across each of Adora’s palms, watching with wide eyes as Adora shivered beneath her. And okay, maybe this wasn’t such a risk after all. Maybe she could use it to her advantage.

 _Just a little further._ Her fingernails slid down to Adora’s wrists, and Adora didn’t fight back, just moaned and brushed her lips across Catra’s neck.

Was Adora really this stupid? Slowly, afraid of frightening Adora -- her _target_ , Catra reminded herself fiercely -- away, she wrapped her hands around her wrists, then pinned them to the tree trunk overhead.

Adora pushed back, but not hard, not like she was really trying to get free. She tilted her head up, letting Catra kiss her slow and deep. 

_This_ was a fight Catra could win. God, Hordak would be so pleased. Even Shadow Weaver would be pleased. Using Adora’s feelings against her like this -- that was the work of a true Horde soldier. There were handcuffs on the back of her belt. She was fast. Even Adora had admitted that. Once she had them on her, Adora couldn’t get the sword. She couldn’t summon She-Ra. She’d be just herself, hobbled, waiting for mercy that Catra wouldn’t give.

And then Adora looked up at her. Her lips were swollen and her eyes were dark, and her body went boneless underneath Catra’s hands. 

It was over. Catra was weak. She pulled back, shook her head, and sprang up into the trees.

Someday she would be strong enough for this. Today wasn’t the day.


End file.
